Detroit Pistons nix injuries as an excuse for losing streak: 'Not gonna happen'
The final question of Friday night's postgame news conference at Little Caesars Arena started with a qualifier: “Not that you ever want to blame injuries, but …”
Head coach Monty Williams had heard enough. He had a statement to make after the Detroit Pistons fell to the Philadelphia 76ers, 114-106, despite leading by 16 in the second quarter. They entered the game with six players on the injury report, and a seventh player joined it in the fourth quarter.
Blame injuries?
“Not gonna happen,” Williams said. “We can throw that out the window. We’ve shown that we can play against anybody. We have to sustain it. Everybody we put on the floor is trained to produce and be productive for four quarters. We’re not doing that. We’re not gonna blame anything on injuries. We’re finding out exactly who we are. These are the things we need to know as we go forward.”
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The Pistons have had at least three rotation players on the injury report since their first preseason game, and the list has grown longer by the week. Their depth was expected to be a strength going into training camp and yet, 10 games in, they’ve had to rely on two of their two-way players, Stanley Umude and Jared Rhoden, to fill out Williams’ rotation.
Bojan Bogdanovic (right calf strain), Monte Morris (right quad strain) and Isaiah Livers (left ankle sprain) have missed every game this season. Alec Burks (left forearm contusion) and Jaden Ivey (illness) have missed the Pistons' past six and four games, respectively. Joe Harris (shoulder sprain) has missed three.
And Jalen Duren, who has already missed two games with ankle soreness, played his final minutes in Friday's third quarter due to a right ankle injury. There’s a possibility that he will miss additional time as the Pistons mull giving him extra time to heal.
“I would imagine we’re probably going to discuss that over tonight and tomorrow morning,” Williams said. “I don’t want to get into time and all that, but when a guy can’t finish a game, that’s something we have to discuss and see if we can help him get stronger before we put him back on the floor.”
The Pistons fell to 2-8 after Friday’s loss, which saw the Sixers lead by as many as 17 points in the second half while outscoring Detroit 66-50. It was the Pistons’ seventh straight loss, but the team hasn’t been as bad as the record suggests. And that gives the Pistons confidence that, despite a short roster, they can turn things around before their injured players begin coming back.
Of the eight losses, the Pistons have led by double digits in three second halves — Friday, Wednesday against the Milwaukee Bucks (by 10 midway through the fourth) and Nov. 1 against the Portland Trail Blazers (by 15 midway through the third). They also led the Golden State Warriors, who had Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green in the lineup, by five early in the fourth quarter on Monday. The Pistons have had long stretches of competent basketball on both ends of the floor. But the lulls have been devastating.
A midrange shot by Killian Hayes (23 points, six assists, five rebounds) gave the Pistons a 56-41 lead over the 76ers with 3:21 left in the first half. After that, though, Philadelphia was in control, as a 7-0 run cut Detroit’s lead to eight at halftime.
The 76ers' run grew to 19-4 at the 8:14 mark of the third when Joel Embiid — who led all scorers with 33 points, 16 rebounds and a 16-for-19 performance at the line — knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 60. Philadelphia led by six at the end of the third, and by 17 with 4:05 to play in the fourth. A late Pistons run cut the final deficit back to single digits, barely.
Williams wasn’t happy with the officiating on Embiid, feeling as though many of his fouls were drawn using non-basketball moves, which the NBA pledged to crack down on. But ultimately, the Pistons lost their discipline. The 76ers were stronger defensively in the second half, forcing Detroit to burn most of the shot clock in halfcourt situations. Williams also said his team went under screens too often, abandoning their game plan and allowing the Sixers to hit three 3-pointers in the third alone, after entering halftime with just four.
“Our guys are fighting their tails off,” Williams said. “We’ve had their lulls like they did in the third quarter. That’s something that we have to fight. That third quarter was a huge deficit for us in execution, and their physicality probably pushed us away from our sweet spots in our offense. But we’ve had that against some of these playoff teams. When we score and we’re stopping them, they typically go to a zone or a switch or physical play. Tonight, we just didn’t handle it as well as we have, or as well as we did in Milwaukee.”
The Pistons have had to rely on a young rotation with most of their veterans in street clothes. Bogdanovic, Burks, Livers and Morris are all competent outside shooters. So is Harris, though he has been cold to start this season.
Their health situation could improve as soon as Sunday, when they face the Bulls in Chicago. Ivey, who has been fighting a viral infection, is feeling better and was with the team during shootaround Friday morning.
But regardless of their health, their biggest issue has been not being able to string together a full 48 minutes of strong play.
“When they come back, it’s going to be great for us,” Hayes said. “But right now, that’s who we have on the floor. (Umude’s) been stepping up, (Rhoden) has been stepping up as well. Who we’ve got on the floor is who we’re going to rock with. Next-man-up mentality and everybody’s going to come out there and play hard. And when we get those guys back, we’re just going to add them on and we’re going to be more experienced and it’ll be beneficial for the team.”
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him @omarisankofa.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Pistons blaming injuries for skid? 'Throw that out the window'
